Applicant is well aware of the utilization of ultrasound as a tool for the detection of tissue abnormalities and is the inventor and owner of U.S. Pat. No. 3,854,767 entitled "Ultrasonic Method for Systematic Search and Detection of Tissue Abnormalities". He has, in addition to this invention and resultant patent, authored many articles concerning the use of ultrasound for the detection of tissue abnormalities.
The applicant's work in the field of ultrasound as a tissue abnormality detection tool has resulted in international recognition of his contributions as the same is set forth in the Prior Art Statement and he has been recognized as the person responsible for the introduction and utilization of pulse-echo ultrasound to diagnostic medicine.
It is considered that twenty-eight percent of breast cancers occur within the nipple-aerola area of the breast and this area is of particular import to the complete interrogation of the female breast. Applicant's device provides for the instantaneous, high black and white contrast, visual readout of occurring abnormalities with particular emphasis on such area with such readout suitable for abnormality screening in "real time" on an efficient basis. This approach to interrogation, besides being effective and efficient, eliminates cumbersome and costly record keeping.
The mechanical movements of applicant's device provide for circumferentially indexing the diametric straight line travel of the ultrasound transducer with oscillatory motion being provided to the transducer in a direction normal to the straight line path for resultant, complete tissue interrogation by the ultrasound beam to maximally detect slight tissue differences in diffuse back-scattered acoustic energy.
It is therefore an object of the applicant's invention to provide an ultrasound, tissue abnormality detection device for the rapid, systematic and complete examination of various anatomical body parts and particularly the female breast with particular attention being given to the nipple-aerola area thereof at which site maximum differerential acoustic echoing is detectable.
It is a further object of the applicant's invention to provide a tissue abnormality detection device which includes the conductive isolation of an ultrasound transducer in position and positionable and transportable across the female breast to provide a real time, instanteous, high black and white visual contrast readout of the abnormalities that may occur in the tissues of the female breast.
It is still a further object of the applicant's invention to provide an ultrasound transducer operative in interrogative relation to the female breast and to move the same through straight line, arcuately indexed and oscillatory motions providing multiple "Lines of Acoustic Site" for complete interrogation of the tissues of the breast for the determination of tissue abnormallity presence.
These and other objects and advantages of the applicant's invention will more fully appear from a consideration of the accompanying disclosure and drawings of a preferred form of the invention.